1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of virtual environments, and more particularly to simultaneous viewing and control of different geographic planes in a virtual environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Dramatic advances in graphic display and high-end computing have made it possible to transform billions of bits of data into interactive, three-dimensional images that can be manipulated in real time. Virtual Environments refer to all the display and feedback devices that, collectively, make this transformation possible. The mouse and keyboard are popular input devices that allow a user to interact in a virtual environment. Alternative input devices include a trackball, touchpad, pointing stick, wands and gloves.
The flight simulator first developed for military purposes represents one of the most influential antecedents of virtual environments. In military grade flight simulation systems, a combination of software, hardware, and motion-control platforms enable pilots to navigate through highly detailed virtual worlds. An integral component of flight simulation is the out-of-the-window visual scene. Over the past several decades, virtual environments, once the privilege only of the most advanced and well-funded organizations, now have become widely available at low cost to the common video gamer and personal computer user. Today, flight simulators in addition to first person shooter and avatar-driven amusement games have found a home in the personal computing environment as well as in the proprietary video gaming environment.
A combination of mouse input and keyboard input provide a popular way to play first-person shooter games and third-person shooter games alike. The first-person shooter game represents a genre of computer and video games in which the player (avatar) is immersed in a virtual environment viewed from the first-person perspective. This perspective is meant to give the player the feeling of virtually “being there”, and allows the player to focus on aiming. Likewise, a third-person shoot game provides an “over the shoulder” view of the actions of an avatar similarly providing a feeling of virtually “being there”. Most modern first-person and third-person shooters utilize a combination of QWERTY keyboard features and mouse features as a means of controlling and navigating the game.
Typically, in controlling an avatar in a first-person shooter environment, one hand of the user operates the mouse used for “free look”, which allows the player to aim and turn the player's view horizontally and vertically. The primary mouse button is used for the main “fire” function, with any additional buttons on the mouse performing other actions such as secondary fire functions. On the keyboard, keys such as W, A, S, D, provide movement forwards, backwards, and side-to-side (often known as “strafing” among players) left and right. Other nearby keys perform additional functions such as jumping, picking up and dropping weapons, to name only a few additional functions.
In the conventional first-person and third-person shooter, navigation is provided in three dimensions, and point of view is provided in three dimensions through the “free look” or “mouse look” operation. The focal point of interest for shooting (the “cross hairs”), however, remains inexorably tied to the existing views due to use of the mouse and selected portions of the keyboard already having been tied to the navigation view and free look. Of course, many other portions of the keyboard remain available to manage point of focus, however, gamers are loathe to repositioning their hands away from the mouse and keyboard when gaming in a virtual environment.